Faction Design (Ruairidh Thompson, 1700658)
Ar-Ruqya Enforcers: Skilled individuals hired by the council to protect the Hub of New Babylon and maintain its laws. While there are the few within the faction with honest souls. Many of those hired are out for themselves to make their own lives better. Taking bribes and turning the other cheek is part of their daily routine, however their main fault is that most of the members are the ones driving a wedge between the humans and the supernatural. It is their vision that they are an abomination to nature and they must be ousted, to do this they must destroy of the supernaturals. Be it from enforcing more strict laws to make them seem more criminal, forcing them to shop at different stalls to make them appear 2nd class or outright attacking them to make them seem weak. In some cases the Enforcers have been known to provoke unstable enhanced individuals to cause them to lash out with their powers, which will damage property and harm civilians, causing the public to believe magic can only lead to trouble. Marduk’s Children: One of the generally respected research groups of the Hanging Gardens, the group known as Marduk’s Children is one of the first factions available to the player which they can get quests from. They set their sights on the betterment of New Babylon first, then the rest of the world, believing that the 2nd coming of the city is a sign of importance from Marduk himself (god of healing/magic) and that it must be preserved above all else. They send the player all over the Silk Road in search of parts for machines, exotic plants with magical powers and also to scout out the other Hubs, to see if they have any other, more efficient methods to save their climate. When not researching ways to save the climate, they’re worshipping Marduk and his ability to heal, believing that all those who do will lead a longer life, and that if they can save New Babylon, Marduk will allow them to live forever. The group have no moral objections to taking other people’s ideas when it comes to climate change, however if other Hubs come looking for their ideas, they take personal offence, believing their work to be sacred to the gods. They will only pass on their technology if they have created a better version and believe the older version to be outdated. The Unhuntables A group of gifted raiders who take their name from their supernatural ability to camouflage, they used to ravage the Souk, however when the Codex was discovered, the group lost their influence on the hub, and after multiple clashes with the Ar-Ruqya Enforcers, they fled to the Isolated Tower of Babel. Hearing of the Tower’s many riches and Artefacts, the remains of The Unhuntables used their gifts to get past The Immortals and grant themselves access to the Tower. They managed to climb high in the tower, defeating anything that stood in their way and looting as they saw fit. Feeling tired upon reaching the 10th floor, they decided to rest up for the night, unaware of the powers the Tower held over the mind. When they woke the next morning, all memory of travel and ambition for wealth was gone, and all that remained of the group was an unrelenting desire to protect the treasure they had amassed so far. Now the group lives in the tower, standing guard and waiting for anyone who dares to find them.